Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has become the target for attacks over the botched rollout of the health care overhaul. / Evan Vucci / File / Associated Press

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Michael Cass

The Tennessean

Sen. Lamar Alexander

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U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander called Tuesday for the resignation of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius following weeks of problems since the rollout of the federal Healthcare.gov website for insurance enrollment.

“Expecting this secretary to be able to fix what she hasn’t been able to fix during the last three and one half years is unrealistic,” Alexander said on the Senate floor. “It’s throwing good money after bad. It’s time for her to resign and for someone else to take charge.”

Alexander, who is up for re-election next year and facing a tea party primary challenge from state Rep. Joe Carr, is the senior Republican on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. He said at least 1.5 million people would lose health care coverage starting Jan. 1 because their policies are illegal under Obamacare.

“Secretary Sebelius is not responsible for enacting Obamacare,” he said. “But she has been responsible for three and one half years of implementing it. Now many Americans have only a few weeks to purchase new insurance or be without health insurance.”

Carr called for Sebelius’s resignation in a news release Monday. On Tuesday, he said it was unfortunate that Alexander “only did the right thing after political pressure.”

Marilyn Tavenner, director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, apologized at a House committee hearing Tuesday for the website’s problems, which have prevented thousands from signing up for government-backed health insurance since the site debuted Oct. 1.

USA Today reported that Sebelius plans to testify to the House Energy and Commerce Committee today that “the initial consumer experience” of Healthcare.gov “has not lived up to the expectations of the American people and is not acceptable. We are committed to fixing these problems as soon as possible."

Contact Michael Cass at 615-259-8838 or mcass@tennessean.com. Ask him a question on Twitter @tnmetro.